II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5271 

To require the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration to 

temporarily exempt buprenorphine from the Suspicious Orders Report 

System for the remainder of the opioid public health emergency. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 

Mr. HEINRICH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration to temporarily exempt buprenorphine from 

the Suspicious Orders Report System for the remainder 

of the opioid public health emergency. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadening Utilization 

5 of Proven and Effective Treatment for Recovery Act’’ or 

6 the ‘‘BUPE for Recovery Act’’. 


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•S 5271 IS

1 SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF BUPRENORPHINE PRODUCTS FROM 

2 SORS DURING OPIOID PUBLIC HEALTH 

3 EMERGENCY. 

4 (a) TEMPORARY EXEMPTION.—The Administrator of 

5 the Drug Enforcement Administration shall temporarily 

6 exempt any buprenorphine product approved for the treat7 ment of opioid use disorder from the Suspicious Orders 

8 Report System established under 312 of the Controlled 

9 Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 832), including subsection 

10 (a)(3) of that section, until that date that is 270 days 

11 after the date on which the public health emergency with 

12 respect to opioids declared by the Secretary of Health and 

13 Human Services pursuant to section 319 of the Public 

14 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on October 26, 2017, 

15 expires. 

16 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

17 of the expiration of the public health emergency described 

18 in subsection (a), the Department of Justice and the De19 partment of Health and Human Services shall— 

20 (1) conduct a comprehensive report that indi21 cates if the temporary exemption under subsection 

22 (a) resulted in increased access to buprenorphine 

23 treatment for patients experiencing opioid use dis24 order; and 

25 (2) make a recommendation to the White 

26 House and Congress about whether buprenorphine 


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•S 5271 IS

1 should remain in the Suspicious Orders Report Sys2 tem and be subject to related reporting requirements 

3 after the expiration of the public health emergency 

4 described in subsection (a). 

5 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con6 gress that Congress is concerned by reports of patients 

7 not being able to fill buprenorphine prescriptions for the 

8 treatment of opioid use disorder at pharmacies. Reports 

9 indicate that pharmacies are unable or unwilling to stock 

10 sufficient buprenorphine products, in part because of the 

11 Suspicious Orders Report System and related reporting 

12 requirements. A temporary exemption of buprenorphine 

13 products approved for the treatment of opioid use disorder 

14 from Suspicious Order Report System requirements would 

15 allow the Federal Government to collect relevant data and 

16 assess whether a permanent exemption should be estab17 lished. 

Æ 


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